OLYMPICS
“The Redemption Tour” ended in a familiar spot for Simone Biles: atop the Olympic podium. The American gymnastics star and her singular brilliance powered a dominant U.S. women’s team in the finals inside a raucous Bercy Arena. With Biles at her show-stopping best, the Americans’ total of 171.296 was well clear of Italy and Brazil and the exclamation point of a yearlong run in which Biles has cemented her legacy as the greatest ever in her sport and among the best in the history of the Olympics.
Kaylee McKeown still rules the women’s Olympic backstroke. The Australian knocked off world-record holder Regan Smith of the United States in the 100 back, defending the title she won in Tokyo. Smith couldn’t hold off the hard-charging Aussie, who touched the wall in 57.33 to win by a relatively comfortable margin. The U.S. also grabbed the bronze with Katharine Berkoff. In the men's 800 freestyle, Daniel Wiffen won Ireland’s first gold medal in swimming since scandal-plagued Michelle Smith won three events in 1996. Defending champion Bobby Finke of the U.S. got the silver. The night's other gold medal went to Britain, which defended its title in the men's 4x200 freestyle relay, with the U.S. earning yet another silver.
Sophia Smith, along with Mallory Swanson and Trinity Rodman, are helping the United States reclaim its status as a team to be feared at the Olympics in France. Smith scored both of her goals in the team’s 4-1 victory on Sunday over Germany that clinched the Americans a spot in the quarterfinals at their first major tournament under coach Emma Hayes following the team's bronze medal in Tokyo and disappointment at the World Cup.
Alex Sedrick ran the length of the field to give the U.S. women a first Olympic rugby sevens medal with a stunning stoppage-time comeback win over Australia in the bronze-medal match. The 2016 champion Australians were leading 12-7 with seconds remaining and deep in U.S. territory. The ball went to Sedrick and she bumped off two tacklers before racing all the way to the other end to touch down and then convert the try. Ilona Maher and the rest of the Americans rushed down the field to celebrate the 14-12 victory. The U.S. women had earlier reached the Olympic semifinals for the first time and lost to eventual champion New Zealand.
French phenom Léon Marchand swam four races Tuesday and had a pair of night semifinals separated by less than 90 minutes. His 200-meter butterfly semi came first, then he immediately needed to switch gears for the 200 breaststroke. All that after doing the same daunting double during the morning session with prelims in both those events. And Wednesday won’t be much different — except medals will now be on the line.
MLB
In the hours before the 6 pm. deadline, the Yankees acquired righty Mark Leiter Jr. from the Cubs for righty Jack Neely and infielder Ben Cowles and sent outfielder Brandon Lockridge to the Padres for righties Enyel De Los Santos and Thomas Balboni Jr. in addition to swapping pitchers with Houston. New York sent lefty Caleb Ferguson to the Astros in exchange for righty Kelly Austin and international bonus pool money.
The Mets sent out lefty Josh Walker to the Pirates in exchange for minor league lefty Nicolas Carreno, swapping another minor league pitcher, Kade Morris, with the Athletics for righty Paul Blackburn. New York also shipped out righty Paul Gervase for Rays reliever Tyler Zuber.
Boston sent minor-league pitcher Ovis Portes to the Reds in exchange for reliever Lucas Sims and four more minor leaguers to the Angels in exchange for reliever Luis Garcia.
Philadelphia sent righty Gregory Soto to the Orioles for Seth Johnson and brought in lefty Tanner Banks from the White Sox in exchange for minor league infielder William Bergolla.
The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired starting pitcher Jack Flaherty, San Diego added All-Star closer Tanner Scott, and Arizona, Baltimore and Pittsburgh made significant deals for the stretch run ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline. Many top stars mentioned as trade targets stayed with their teams, including Toronto slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr., San Francisco left-hander Blake Snell and Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet. San Diego got Scott from Miami, Cleveland got right-hander Alex Cobb from San Francisco and Minnesota obtained reliever Trevor Richards from payroll-cutting Toronto, which also sent outfielder Kevin Kiermaier to the Dodgers and utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa to Pittsburgh.
Jazz Chisholm had five RBIs in his second straight two-homer game, Gleyber Torres hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the 12th inning and the New York Yankees outlasted the Philadelphia Phillies 7-6 for their first four-game winning streak since early June. Chisholm had an RBI grounder in the first, a solo homer in the sixth off Aaron Nola and a three-run homer in the seventh against Matt Strahm that put the Yankees ahead 5-4. Chisholm has homered twice in two of three games with the Yankees after having three multihomer performances in 405 games with Miami, which traded him last weekend.
Sean Manaea struck out a season-best 11 over seven dominant innings, pitching the New York Mets to a 2-0 victory against the Minnesota Twins. Mark Vientos homered and J.D. Martinez had an RBI single to help the Mets win for the 15th time in 21 games. They matched their season high at seven games above .500. Manaea yielded two hits and one walk while allowing just one runner beyond first base. The 11 strikeouts were his most since fanning 12 for San Diego against Atlanta in May 2022. Ryne Stanek got two outs in the eighth and Edwin Díaz struck out Byron Buxton with two runners on to end the inning. Buxton whiffed all four times up. Díaz finished for his 13th save.
Jorge Polanco homered in the fourth inning and added an RBI double in the sixth, Dylan Moore drove in three with a bases-loaded double in the fifth, and the Mariners beat the Boston Red Sox 10-6. The eight-run outburst midway through the game helped Seattle win for the fourth time in five games as the Mariners capitalized on three errors that had Boston fans booing. Seattle starter Luis Castillo (9-10) pitched six innings, holding Boston to three runs on six hits and a walk. He struck out three. Rafael Devers hit a three-run homer for Boston in the third. James Paxton (8-3) took the loss.
Trade acquisition Christopher Morel homered in his Tampa Bay debut, helping the new-look Rays come from behind to beat the Miami Marlins 9-3. Ben Rortvedt and Yandy Diaz each contributed two-run singles off reliever Declan Cronin during a five-run sixth inning that propelled the Rays to a 6-3 lead. Jose Caballero added an RBI double, then stole home to extend the lead in the seventh. Morel was acquired Sunday in a trade that sent All-Star infielder Isaac Paredes to Chicago. He homered to left center field off Marlins starter Edward Cabrera leading off the fourth inning.
The Tampa Bay Rays have the government backing the team needs to build a long-sought-after ballpark. The Pinellas County Commissioners approved on Tuesday the west-central Florida county's share of the funding for the 30,000-seat stadium. The deal will guarantee the team stays put for at least 30 years. The county voted 5-2 to approve spending about $312.5 million for its share of the ballpark costs from revenue generated by a bed tax. The St. Petersburg City Council approved spending $417.5 million for the stadium earlier this month. The $1.3 billion ballpark is part of a broader $6.5 billion redevelopment project that supporters say would transform an 86-acre tract in the city’s downtown.
Tommy Pham hit a pinch-hit grand slam in his first game back with the Cardinals and St. Louis beat the Texas Rangers 8-1 on Tuesday night. Pham’s blast off reliver Cody Bradford capped a five-run fifth. It was his first at-bat since being dealt to the Cardinals from the White Sox as part of a three-team trade on Monday. Cardinals starter Lance Lynn gave up one run on three hits in five innings. Rangers starter Max Scherzer lasted just four innings, allowing three runs on four hits. The Rangers lost for the fourth time in their last five games.
Michael Taylor homered for the second straight game, Bailey Falter returned to the rotation and threw one-run ball into the sixth inning as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Houston Astros 6-2. Taylor hit a 403-foot, two-run homer off Astros starter Hunter Brown (9-7) in the sixth inning. Taylor hit a go-ahead homer in the ninth inning on Monday night in the Pirates’ 5-3 victory. His fourth homer of the season also marked the first back-to-back homer games for the 33-year-old outfielder since August with Minnesota. Falter (5-7), making his first start since July 6 due to triceps tendonitis, allowed six hits and one run with three strikeouts and no walks in 5 1/3 innings.
Matt Thaiss drove in a career-high five runs, Jo Adell hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning and the Los Angeles Angels overcame a four-run deficit to beat the Colorado Rockies 10-7. Thaiss became the first Angels catcher to drive in five runs with two steals in the same game and the second catcher in major league history to achieve the feat after Detroit’s Mickey Cochrane in 1934. Taylor Ward drove in three runs for the Angels, who trailed 6-2 after two innings and won for the sixth time in nine games.
JP Sears pitched seven shutout innings and the Oakland Athletics hit four home runs in a 5-2 win over the San Francisco Giants. The A’s have won eight of 11 since the All-Star break and can win their fifth straight series for the first time since 2021 with a win on Wednesday. Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler stayed hot, hitting their 11th and 10th home runs in the month of July, respectively. Daz Cameron and JJ Bleday also went deep. The A’s have hit 45 home runs this month, which is the second most in Oakland history in the month of July.
José Ramírez moved past Albert Belle into sole possession of second place on the Cleveland career home run list with his 243rd, hitting his third in two games to help the Guardians beat the Detroit Tigers 5-0. Josh Naylor hit a first-inning homer off Alex Faedo and Ramírez hit a two-run drive in the eighth against Jason Foley. Jim Thome tops the Cleveland home run list with 337. Brayan Rocchio added a ninth-inning homer off Joey Wentz. Lane Thomas went 1 for 4 in his Guardians debut, going 1 for 4. Cleveland has won three straight and six of eight.
Michael Taylor homered for the second straight game, Bailey Falter returned to the rotation and threw one-run ball into the sixth inning as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Houston Astros 6-2. Taylor hit a 403-foot, two-run homer off Astros starter Hunter Brown (9-7) in the sixth inning. Taylor hit a go-ahead homer in the ninth inning on Monday night in the Pirates’ 5-3 victory. His fourth homer of the season also marked the first back-to-back homer games for the 33-year-old outfielder since August with Minnesota. Falter (5-7), making his first start since July 6 due to triceps tendonitis, allowed six hits and one run with three strikeouts and no walks in 5 1/3 innings.
The staggering Chicago White Sox lost their 16th straight game, extending a franchise record, as Michael Massey homered and Michael Wacha pitched seven strong innings to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 4-3 victory. Bobby Witt Jr. ran his hitting streak to 12 games and had the first RBI in an eighth-inning rally that gave the Royals the lead for good. Chicago’s Andrew Vaughn homered for the second consecutive night and rookie Jonathan Cannon pitched seven terrific innings, allowing only Massey’s solo shot. He gave way to rookie Fraser Ellard, who walked two in his major league debut to set the stage for Kansas City’s comeback. Sam Long worked a clean ninth for his fourth career save and first this season.
Santiago Espinal extended his hit streak to 10 games with a two-run homer in the second inning and the Cincinnati Reds held on to beat the Chicago Cubs 6-3. That secured a win for the Reds in a series between NL Central rivals trying to stay within striking distance of playoff contention. TJ Friedl drove in two runs with a first-inning base hit, Tyler Stephenson also had an RBI as part of the three-run second inning, and Spencer Steer drove in another with a double in the eighth.
Jarred Kelenic broke out of a month-long slump by hitting a homer and double in the Atlanta Braves’ 5-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. Austin Riley went 4 for 5 as the Braves won despite leaving 11 men on base. Kelenic doubled during Atlanta’s four-run outburst in the third inning and hit a solo shot over the left-field wall in the fourth. Kelenic had been hitting just .125 in July before Tuesday's game. Atlanta's Bryce Elder struck out seven and allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings.
Eugenio Suárez hit three homers and matched his career high with five RBIs, and the Arizona Diamondbacks tied a team record with 22 hits in a 17-0 victory over the Washington Nationals. The Diamondbacks, who scored five runs in the ninth inning for a 9-8 victory a night earlier, outscored the Nationals 24-0 since the seventh inning of Monday’s game, which was the first time since 2011 that Arizona won when trailing by four runs in the ninth inning or later. The Diamondbacks won for the sixth time in seven games. Suárez hit a two-run shot in the first, a solo homer in the sixth and another solo homer in the seventh — all to left field.
Pinch-hitter Donovan Solano singled past diving third baseman Kiké Hernández with the bases loaded and one out in the 10th inning inning and the San Diego Padres stunned the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers 6-5. Solano’s hit thrilled a record crowd of 47,559 at Petco Park and gave the Padres their eighth win in 10 games since the All-Star break. The Padres tied it in the ninth on home runs by Manny Machado, who connected on Blake Treinen’s first pitch, and a high-arcing shot to right with one out by rookie Jackson Merrill. Machado also homered off starter Tyler Glasnow in the second.
Los Angeles Angels are shutting down the rehab for star Mike Trout after a recent setback in his recovery from meniscus surgery and placed Anthony Rendon on the injured list. Trout had surgery on May 3 to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. Angels general manager Perry Minasian did not reveal any details about Trout’s setback and did not specify how much more time the 11-time All-Star will miss. Rendon was placed back on the IL with lower back inflammation. The veteran third baseman had been on the IL for most of the season with a hamstring injury and played in 14 games upon his return.
SOCCER
San Diego Wave President Jill Ellis sued former team employee Brittany Alvarado for defamation following allegations of a poor work environment. Alvarado, a former video and creative manager, posted on X and Instagram on July 3 that “the treatment we endured under club President Jill Ellis has been nothing short of life-altering and devastating to our mental health.” Ellis issued a statement the next day calling the allegations “false” and “personally damaging.” In a lawsuit filed Monday in California Superior Court in San Diego, Ellis claimed defamation and intentional interference with contractual relations.
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